There was a time when Chakwal's numerous villages had considerable Sikh and Hindu populations. Vahali village, being the capital of the Vahali state, was home to the Sardars of Vahali. The Sardars were not only the owners of Khewrah's salt mines, they also served at top positions in the courts of Punjab and Kashmir. Their rulers included the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan, the Rajas of Kashmir and Poonch, Queen Victoria of the British Colonial Government and King George after her.

In the summer of 1947 the Sardars of Vahali went to spend some time in Shimla, but were never able to return to their homes. Vahali had been burnt to ashes.

The sudden surge in violence was a stark contrast to the peace and tranquility that had previously existed in Vahali. Frightened Hindus rushed into the Maari (a grand house with more than one hundred rooms) of Sardar Hari Singh, hoping the rioters would not attack them due to Singh's influence. Yet Muslim rioters set the Maari ablaze, burning alive more than two hundred Hindus, including women and children.

Resham Bee, a 107 year old resident of Vahali village witnessed the burning of Hindus and Sikhs alive by the rioters.

“We were living in peace and harmony. My best friends were Hindu women,” recalls 107 year old Resham Bee. She added that Muslims in this area did not plan to attack Hindus, but a group of enraged rioters from neighbouring Minhala village stormed Vahali.

“Hindu women carrying their children desperately pleaded for mercy. They begged and conceded to send their children to village seminaries and even pleaded with Muslim rioters to marry their Hindu girls, converting them to Islam. However, no person heard their cries, as every Muslim was focused on plundering gold, currency and other valuables stashed in the Maari. They set them all on fire,” recalls Resham Bee, who was a witness to these horrors.

It is senior citizens such as Resham Bee who are part of the last generation of Pakistanis to have witnessed peace and cultural diversity. However, they have also witnessed gory riots, which constituted one of the largest massacres and migrations in history. These individuals are those who still harbour the sweet and bitter memories relating to partition.

Yet the governments of both India and Pakistan have not thought to construct a memorial at the Wagah border, to pay homage to the victims of the gory riots. Nonetheless, the nostalgia-stricken senior citizens in Chakwal’s villages still languish in the memories of their non-Muslim friends.

At 94, Khursheed Begum of Dhakku offers stories of the peaceful and respectful relations between Muslims and non-Muslims residents of the village.

Hindus and Sikhs were also slaughtered in many other villages such as, Dhudial. “When my daughter was born, my Hindu friend Vidya was the first to congratulate me. She presented me with homemade ladoos. We were living with unity and used to respect each other’s feelings. We did not slaughter cows in front of Hindus and they did not eat and drink anything during Ramazan before us,” reminisces Khursheed Begum, 94, a resident of Dhakku village, the ancestral village of Gursharan Kaur the wife of former Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh.

“We used to call Manmohan Singh, Mohna. We are happy that he became the Prime Minister of India. We wish him to visit Gah village once in our lives,” longed Ahmed Khan Hajial and Ghulam Muhammad Khan, former classmates of Manmohan Singh, showing their support for Hindus.

Mola Bukhsh, a senior resident of Haraaj village recalls a dreadful event during the riots.

Mola Bukhsh, a 90 year old resident of Haraaj village, remembers an incident of a Hindu man who showed tough resistance to Muslim rioters in the adjacent village of Gugh throughout that day. By evening however, rioters had set the building on fire where the valiant man stood. “More than 30 Hindu women asked this brave man what they should do. He ordered them to plunge into the fire, rather than getting raped and killed by rioters, and so all the women obeyed him. Later, this Hindu man also jumped into the fire,” Mola Bukhsh recollects of the horrific episode.

Another resident of Vahali, 95 year old Haji Nazar Mohammad, still remembers the niceties of Hindus and Sikhs toward their Muslim neighbours. “Ramtar, a Hindu trader, donated large amounts of wood for the ceiling of our village mosque,” says Mohammad, evoking memories of a better time, now a distant in danger of being lost in the annals of time.

Can we please learn some lessons from the past and ask our politicians to work for peace

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TruthSep 23, 2017 01:31pm

Politics and politician divides people belonging to different religion,sects, races, ethnicities, classes, castes, genders etc. Once friends they get divide by politics and politicians.

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JudguduSep 23, 2017 03:02pm

Many thanks for posting unbiased view. I dont have proper words to express thanks for the impartial reporting. Wishing Pakistan and India a mutually progressive development.

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AliSep 23, 2017 04:11pm

Thanks to Dawn for truthful, unbiased reporting. In the west, Indians and Pakistanis are the best of friends.

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anilSep 23, 2017 07:45pm

thanks dwan. Reading this article brings tears in my eyes.This partition brings lots off pain to both Hindus and Muslims.Now need to wokup and bring harmony in both countries.

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s. ChatterjeeSep 23, 2017 09:06pm

Very informative but sad also.

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AHAQSep 23, 2017 11:33pm

Similar events happened on the other side of the border. Opportunists thieves and thugs on both sides exploited the event of partition for their benefit when suddenly the law and order situation was disturbed for months.

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BakwaaSSep 24, 2017 12:39am

Great writeup. Thanks for sharing, Dawn. What a horrible time that was!!

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RAJSep 24, 2017 01:37am

This is probably the best piece of unbiased reporting I have ever seen. Thanks for publishing this Dawn!!

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RajeshSep 24, 2017 01:44am

Thank you, Dawn. This is a cruel reminder that Indian Hindus & Pakistani Muslims cannot be together. Forget cross-border friendship those are simply slogans to keep people busy. In India, we know more about such stories than Pakistanis have been told while growing up.

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mbaSep 24, 2017 04:21am

Thank you for letting us see also the other side. Tragic stories of human sufferings.

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R S ChakravartiSep 24, 2017 10:00am

There are some places in Indian Punjab where Muslims stayed on. Maybe Dawn could write about them. It could help in restoring good relations between the two countries, which has to be done eventually.

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SAEED MASOODSep 24, 2017 10:11am

This was all in reaction to what the Hindus and the Sikhs were doing in their part of India, five million Muslim men, women and children were slaughtered by them.

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FahimSep 24, 2017 11:32am

Lets hope and try to bring back the lost harmony and love between the people of all faiths living in sub continent.

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Saif KarachiSep 24, 2017 01:37pm

After reading these horrific incidents from both side of the borders,I always wished if I could ever talk and look into the eyes of one of those murderers of innocent children and women ,who are now in their 80's or 90's had they ever felt any remorse ?Did they sleep peacefully ?Didn't they ever hear the scream of the crying babies they had burnt ?

I wish once in their life time these monsters speak up just for once from both the communities.

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Wahi WahanviSep 24, 2017 02:30pm

Well done Dawn for chronicling the events of distant past! Partition turned some men into beasts, regardless of their religion. But there were angels too, on both sides of the divide, who are mostly going unsung.

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Liaqut AliSep 24, 2017 05:17pm

Thanks Dawn for sharing the bitter truth. I am saddened to read it. I wonder how the big decision of partition was neither planned by the leaders on both sides nor by the ruling / vacating experienced Royal Govt. of so-called great nation. This lack of planning to operatiolize the grand decision resulted into such horrific events which are a dark mark on the face of all the related nations. I personally am feeling guilty today to read the other side of the story. Lets hope that people on both sides are not fallen victins of the politics any more in future as it has nothing to do with the humanity.

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London KundonSep 24, 2017 05:44pm

The root cause of all these were some people's greed and ego.

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SandeepSep 24, 2017 06:42pm

Thanks Dawn for showing courage to write such article.

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Dr FayazSep 24, 2017 11:30pm

this piece shows how truthful they are to their history regardless of how horrific and gory that is. it shows the courage and love for truth. it pains us the most because we Kashmiris are still going through this nightmare created by the English and now carried forward by the INC and now executed by the saffron brigade. well done Dawn we are proud of your courage and truthful ness

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Hafiz Saeed Masood AzharSep 25, 2017 01:36am

This would have been our fate everyday if not for Quaid-e-Azam.

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Tarlochan S. BolaSep 25, 2017 04:34am

Please relte more stories like that so that we can re-live our past and learn something from it. Thanks Dawn !